Light-regulator for electric lamps.



T. E. MURRAY. LIGHT REGULATOR PORELEGTRIO LAMPS. APPLIOATIONVPILED JAILZS, 1907.

918,753. Patented ManZ, 1909.

j v a mmmn I I 1 ml I I I I i I I I a 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23,1907.

Patented Mar. 1909.

T. E. MURRAY. LIGHT REGULATOR FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23, 1907.

.Paten ted Mar. 2, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

67 mvzmon mew L BY M6 fl/m0 NEY WITNESSES w/mmw.

shupcd projections S, Fig. "l.

THOMAS MURRAY, OF NEW YORK, N.

31%. cranes.

Specification of Letters I-atont.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed January 23, 190?. Serial No. 358,697.

- creventing overheating of the contact plates,

and foqextinguishing sparks between said plates and the niovzihlc contuct, all as more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a plan view ol my light regulator. Fig. 2 is eside elevation with th parts above the supporting slurlt shown in vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is c section on the line a; of Fig. 3', end Fig. i is u diugrzun showing my apparatus in circuit with electric glow lei-cups.

Similar characters of reference indicate like ar s. p m.

1H9 shaft .L which is to be rotated by any suitable means, is mounted in hearings upon standards 2, on the base ol the appurotus. Said shaft is enlarged in diameter at l, cud receives upon sold enlarged portion the hub 5 of the flanged ineliul disk 6. The hinge 7 ol said disk is cut away in U shaped indentations, so as to produce a plurality ol similarly The huh .3 is dovetail in cross section, Fig. 2, uud'is secured upon the shall by corrcspondiugl faced rings 10, ll. "lilo ring 11 obuls against a, threaded ring l2, received upon a. threaded portion of the enlargement 4, and the ring is secured upon the enlargement set screws Between the hub and the shaft and rings, insulating material 1 is into"- posed. Mounted upon the shalt are upcr tured disks 15, ill, clc. ol' insulating material, separated by spacing rings, U, 13, ole, also oi insulating nmlcriul. fluid disks and specing rings are held between the shoulder formed by the shellv enlargement. -1 und threaded ring 1! thereon, on the one side of the series, and o. ring 19 secured h 11. set screw on the other. 'lhc disks 15, 16 are of the same diameter as the llzuurcd disk 6; and hence are cut uwuy i-lOlI (:ircumforcnliul peripheries to permit llie t shaped projectionsj", 8,- clc. to be sealed in them as treniity h it screw 2-7 to the ui- 'het outed ct ZlhFig. The outer diskQ may be double.

Bolted to the hose 3, but insulated therel'roni as shown at 21, Fig. 3, is u bracket 22, having a lutcrcl cylindrical projection 23. Extending circularly upward and outward.

from said bracket is an arm carrying 9. metal frame 24, in which lits o, carbon contact block Gne end. of said cur-hon block beurs against the continuous circumferentiul pcrtion of the lange 7 of disk (5, and is held contact therewith by means of the leaf spring Zfi. Said spring is secured st its inner exlindrical projection 2? and oft-er passing under and around said projection presses at its outer extremity the protruding end of carhon bloc-l- On the opposite side of bees 3 end bolt thereto, as shown in 2, are h s end 29, through openings in which passes the rod 30, sgucre in cross section. Cu said rod is secured by means of u'set scr w a collar 32, which is insulated irom said. rod by means the interposed sleeve oi icsul rum toricl. From the end of said arc and extending through that portion o. the rod inclosed l; the collar 32 is drilled a bore 341.

Extending upwardly and outi-vcrdly from the collar 3; an arm 3 l iuctal lru- .re 36, 37.

in which l carbon blocl: hem: V llenge 7 of disk 6, and is held in therewith o lei. so

oloc t the contact ring hearing against spring passes on or end around the collar 3 and its extremity is secured lay screw l ornled in the lower port of the carbon holding frame 36, in the arm. 35, in the collar 32 s.- with the core 3 of a. r

.iil

its outer end. t: 11

ded nipple cute"- rich in. turn is ggiv g. j, and tulle 43 is lo hose 3, at whici end pivoted ul.

ineons lor connect" hose or other condull 45 leading to at source oi :in* under pres sure. The c tubes and escape by duct "-10 just l place of contact cl carbon hiocli 2'17 with llunge 7 of disk 6. The 'l'unciion ol the air blast. thus delivered is to blow out any possible electric are or sparking taking olccc een the carbon block 37 and the llzmge ivoted ioi'n'l there is era-chord unv suitable 7 of disk 6 under the conditions hereinafter described.

Upon rod 30 are rack teeth 46, which engage with a pinion 47 on the vertical shaft 48. By turning said shaft, the enga ement of pinion 47 with rack 46 causes ro 30 to movelongitudinally, sliding in brackets 28 and 29 and thus causing the carbon contact block 37 to move along the flange 7 ma.

6 8 their circumferential peripheries.

The circuit connections are as follows: The terminal may be electrically connected to the collar. 32 and the terminal to the bracket 22, as shown in Fi 4. In the circuit are connected the glow amps 48 to be controlled, and any form of circuit closer 49. Circuit-then proceeds from collar 32 to carbon block 37, and, with the parts as shown in Fig. 2, through the flange 7 of disk 6 to carbon block 25, bracket 22, and so tothe lamps.

I will now describe the operation of the device which depends upon the following principle ;first, that the human eye is un'- able to reco 'ze interru tions 1n a ray from a luminous ocus, if the equency of said interruptions exceeds a certain rate per second. Second, the luminous intensity of the then apparently unbroken ray can be varied Y varying the duration ofuthe interruptions.

e resulting -.ph sical effect on the eye is that of an unbro en ray which is decreased or increased in luminous intensit at will. Consider now Fig 1 and assume t e carbon contact to be moved to the right, to the position A, and the shaft 1 to be set in rotation. Circuit will then be completed to the lamps only when the narrow points of the flange projections 8 pass under the carbon contact; or in other words, over a eriod represented by the transverse width 0 projection 8 from etc 1). Circuit will be broken during the long fraction of the revolution of shaft 1, represented by the distance I), c. The speed of rotation of shaft 1 is, however, to be such that the number of makes and breaks in the circuit to thelamps, or in other words, the number of interru tions of the current in the lamp circuit, is to e greater per second than the eye can appreciate In practice, it is simplynecessary to adjust the carbon block at position A, .andregu ate the speed of rotation of shaft 1 until the lamps show steady craves low. Now let it be supposed that the carcuit, being much greater than the duration of the closed circuit periods ab, as was the case in position A; they are now about equal. Conceive the block 37 to be again moved from position B to position 0. Here, as is obvious, the duration of the interruptions b" c" is much less than the diameterof the circuit periods a." b". Theconsequence will be when the carbon block 37 is at pbosition B, the luminosity of thelamps will e greater than when it is at-position A: and greater at pplsition C than when it is. at position B, and ally when the carbon block 37 reaches the osition shownin Fig.1, when there is .no break caused in the continuity of the circuit,

. then the luminosity of the lamps will be at a maximum. The gradually tapering shape of the projections 8, for ObVlOllS reasons, makes it possible to get any degree of luminosit between minimum and maximum by simp y adjusting the carbon block 37 at any desired'point; or the lamps can be extinguished altogether by moving it so as to bear onl on the outer insulating disk 9.

ne ractical application of the device, to

which y actual experiment I have found itapplicable, is the regulation f-theintensity o numerous glow lam s'" simultaneously. Thus in theaters and'pulilic halls the lights can be raised or lowered as gradually as may be desired and to any chosen degree, and be held indefinitely at any selected intensity. It will also be noted that'the present device entirely obviates the necessity of the introduction in the lamp circuit of resistance coils or other energ -consuming contrivances in order to vary t e luminosity ofthe lamps.

I claim I 1. The combination of a rotary shaft, a plurality of disks of non-conduct material on said'shaft, a plurality of tapere plates of conducting'material seated in the circumferentia'l peripheries of said disks, and a contact bearing on said plates and disks and movable.

in the axial direction of said shaft.

ta ered plate of conducting material laterva y curved in the arc of a circle having its center in the longitudinal axis of said shaft,

means onsaid shaft for supporting said plate so thatian air space intervenes between said plate and said shaft, and a contactbearing on said plate and. movable in the axial direc tion of said shaft.

3. Thecombination of a rotary shaft, a hollow c linder of conducting material supported t ereon and coainal therewith, and

provided with indentations at one edge, and a contact bearing on said cylinder and rnovehle in the axial direction of said shaft.

4. The combination of a rotary shaft, a

te ered plate of conducting material latera1 ycurved in the arc of a circle having its 7, center in the longitudinal axis of said shaft,

ring supports of insulating material for said late mounted on said shaft, and e contact nearing on said plate and movable in the axial direction of said shaft.

5. The combination of a rotary shaft, a niurality of tapered plates of conducting masignature in presence of two Witnesses.

THOMAS E. MURRAY. Witnesses A. R. STORM, H. F. LANE. 

